Disclosure of the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: caregivers' opinions in a Brazilian sample.
BACKGROUND
Disclosure of the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains a contentious issue, and has been little studied in developing countries.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the influence of socio-demographic factors and the experience of being a caregiver on opinion about disclosing AD diagnosis to the patient in a Brazilian sample.


METHODS
Caregivers of 50 AD patients together with 50 control participants that did not have the experience of being a caregiver of AD patient were interviewed using a structured questionnaire.


RESULTS
Most of the participants (73.0%) endorsed disclosure of the diagnosis, while caregivers were less prone to disclose (58.0%) than controls (88.0%; p=0.0007). Logistic regression confirmed that only the experience of being a caregiver was associated with a lesser tendency for disclosure endorsement.


CONCLUSIONS
The majority of participants was in favor of disclosing the diagnosis, but caregivers were less willing to disclose the diagnosis to the AD patient.
Shimizu
Marta Maria
MM
Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit, Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
Raicher
I
I
Takahashi
Daniel Yasumasa
DY
Caramelli
Paulo
P
Nitrini
Ricardo
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology*; D030881:Disclosure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult